ITV is to axe 600 jobs and cut programmes.
Pay cuts are also likely for stars like Ant and Dec and the cast of Coronation Street.
TV bosses are moving towards a decision to transfer the famous cobbles from Manchester to the new MediaCity home at Salford Quays, where the BBC is moving five departments by 2012.
A sale of ITV Granada's Quay Street site would bring in much needed cash for the crisis-hit broadcaster.
ITV chief operating officer John Cresswell told the MEN: "We're in deep discussion with MediaCity and it's something that maybe we'll be able to announce."
Production of Channel 4 quiz Countdown will transfer to Manchester with the closure of ITV's main TV centre in Leeds.
At least 150 jobs will go in Yorkshire as a result of the shut down with a number of jobs also set to be lost at ITV Granada in Manchester.
Full details of the job cuts have yet to be revealed but most are expected to be concentrated in Leeds and London.
Plunging revenues
Emmerdale will remain the last surviving main drama series in Yorkshire, based on its permanent set on the Harewood estate.
ITV said it had to deal with plunging revenues in a severe advertising downturn.
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade revealed a 'wide-ranging cost-cutting plan' which will deliver total annual savings of £155m this year. That will rise to £175m in 2010 and £245m in 2011.
He described it as 'the toughest advertising market that I have experienced in more than 30 years of working in the broadcasting industry'.
Investment in programmes will be reduced by £65m this year, held flat in 2010 and reduced by a further £70m in 2011.
Mr Grade said his aim was to concentrate on protecting the core primetime schedule with more emphasis on midweek light entertainment shows.
Cuts were necessary to meet the 'short term horrors' of the current drop in ad revenues, he added.
Off-peak daytime programmes will be hit, with a decision already taken to axe the summer version of This Morning.
Axed
Schedules have been examined for the next three years in an attempt to find savings with the focus on protecting peaktime programmes.
Off screen, social networking site Friends Reunited is among businesses to be sold off. ITV has still to make a final decision about a proposed move of Granada from its Quay Street site in Manchester.
Mr Cresswell said: "I think the issue for a lot of companies at the moment is actually taking the plunge to spend a lot of money on property in uncertain times.
"But we'll take the decision when it's right for the staff in Manchester and for the company.
"The key thing in this is, obviously, protecting Coronation Street, which is the most valuable programme on British television. So we're not going to rush into a decision."
The cuts, announced on Wednesday morning, include the loss of around one hour of drama a week on the ITV network.
TV bosses revealed recently that production of both Heartbeat and The Royal, produced from Leeds, will be put on ice once filming of already ordered episodes is completed this year.
Leeds-based A Touch Of Frost is shooting its final film after the decision of David Jason to retire from the title role.
'Tragedy'
Newcastle produced Robson Green hit Wire In The Blood, originally based on the novels of Stockport-based Val McDermid, was also axed last month. ITV is struggling with a £2.6bn pension fund and its debt burden.
Mr Grade added: "Clearly these are both unprecedented and extremely difficult times - we've taken a number of tough decisions."
ITV reported pre-tax losses of £2.73bn after it wrote down the value of assets on its balance sheet. Stripping out the exceptional items, profits were down 41 per cent at £167m.
Finance director Ian Griffiths said: "All areas of the business will be impacted by the savings that we're announcing today.
"But as far as the headcount is concerned, the main savings will be in the shared or central service areas and the senior management within those areas."
Broadcasting union Bectu has vowed to fight the cuts after condemning ITV's management, which it claimed has 'seriously lost its way'.
General Secretary Gerry Morrissey said: "The threat to jobs, both staff and freelance and to skills, inherent in this proposal, is a tragedy for television production in the north and is out of step with developments such as Salford's Media City."
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If anything, I would have thought that during this credit crunch, more people would be watching TV as they haven't got the money to go out any more, and as a result, I would have thought advertising space would be at a premium, with increased viewing figures.
Interesting decision though, that ITV has chosen to target it's most successful programmes for budget cuts. Surely it makes more sense to target unsuccessful programming and to build on the success of top rated shows.
Let's be honest about it... are they really worth the money they get paid...?
Barney: You're right of course. People in TV are generally over paid and the Coronation Street cast certainly are. Considering the poor standard of acting I'm never sure why they get so much. reduce them to Rep theatre rates I say.
Well overdue TV has needed a shake up for years .Its time to pay these actors what they are worth and not what they think they are worth? TV has been garbage for years..fire all the directors and start again.
Grumpy Old Men...
They want to do what the BBC do - prise the money out of the public. Their income streams may be a little more secure then.
In any market salaries are generally what the market can sustain (football being the exception). So now its time to bring all the salaries down in TV. Whether it is £2 million per year for Jonathan Ross, or £150k per year for Coronation street actors, its time to recalibrate the market.
why is it that everything Michael Grade has dealing with loses money,he was with another televison company and they lost revenue until he left.
The quality of the programs won't go down simply because you can't get any lower than rock bottom.
ITV has been poor for several years now, their programming is aimed purely at people who are sat at home all day, if you want news you watch BBC breakfast, if you want to know what dress Posh Spice had on last night you watch GMTV, other programmes such as this morning and loose women complete the daily dross served up by them. They are miles behind the BBC in every area including sport. Time to pull your socks up ITV.
It's about time these bloated organisations got a good pruning. Pity they don't cut all the dross out of the schedules, but then they wouldn't have anything to show.
Is this just another excuse to make such cuts on the strength of the recession or credit crunch? Eventually all the popular soaps plus programmes such as Heartbeat,midsomers murders etc will be switched to Sky /Setanta/cable TV where we'll have to pay for it or should I say subscribe.Already old serials of Heartbeat,Sweeney,Wycliffe etc are being shown on Setanta -what next Coronation St and Emmerdale on Sky TV? Forget free view YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY!
What do they expect when their programmes are all preceded by an "X" in the title with village idiots performing solely for their mothers benefit with two men from Newcastle who are children's entertainers screaming at the camera for viewers to telephone premium rate telephone numbers in order to see the village idiot perform again.
It's hardly Sunday Night At The London Palladium with Bruce Forsythe doing Beat The Clock, The Billy Cotton Band Show, The Arthur Haynes Show or Spot That Tune with the lovely singer Marion Ryan which the late Sir Lew Grade was responsible for.
Michael Grade has been employed on the memory of his father for much to long and the audience of ITV has had enough of his low intellect aimed programmes.
I can see the Granada building being converted into ANOTHER hotel.
the only thing left soon will be party political broadcasts. God help us.
Grade has been handed an excellent opportunity to make ITV great again. Unfortunate about the job losses, but the savings should be ploughed back into creating and producing quaility programming instead of the dross and repeats. We seem to have enough crime, reality and soaps. What about sci-fi, period and historical content? Come on Grade, do the honours!
Scrap the Liverpool News at 6-00 pm. Concentrate on quality,eg.The Bill,Sharpe,Wire in the Blood.Ditch the dross,Big Brother,Dancing on Ice,Colour of Money,Harry Hill, etc.Scrap the wastes of space that are ITV 3 and 4. Use ITV 2 to repeat the previous nights programmes so that night and shift workers don't miss out, then a couple of good films at night.Lean and mean and cream rising to the top.
What a shame the recession doesn't affect the BBC. It can go on making rubbish like Cash in the Attic, Celebrity Cash in the Attic, Eastenders, Casualty and the Jonathan Ross Show with no money worries whatsoever.
If the BBC really is a public service broadcaster it could perform a great public service by stopping the production of such downmarket programmes and slashing the licence fee while times are hard.
And how about slashing the wages of BBC people like £6 million per year Jonathan Ross and other grossly overpaid BBC performers? The money saved could be used to employ thousands of people on normal wages to do useful jobs like nursing and care for the elderly. Why should so much of the public's money go to people like Ross while vital public services such as these are cut back? Given the problems at ITV these superbly paid BBC staff are hardly going to defect if their wages are slashed are they?
Put all "actors" and presenters on the national minimum wage, especially those paid from the licence fee. They don't contribute anything worthwhile to society and I resent being compelled to contribute to their over-inflated incomes.
"stars like Ant and Dec"
This sums up the decline of ITV.
I agree that all television actors/presenters' salaries should be more realistic. Take Fern Britton for example - she works eight hours per week for approximately thirty nine weeks per year for the eye-watering salary of £770K! Nobody on television if worth that amount of money.
Miss B Manchester.
ITV has been due an overhaul for years. I'm not sure when the rot set in, but I think it was around the time that they thought it would be a good idea to feed us Coronation St 5 times per week, and Emmerdale every night. These shows were far better when they were screened twice weekly. Far too many (un)reality shows clog up the schedule and I am not surprised that advertising revenue has fallen. Many of the adverts are disgraceful, especially the gvt 'we know where you live' style, and quite frankly, I object to being intimidated in my own living room! I rarely spend an evening watching the tv as it has evolved from something that once kept me amused and entertained into something that never fails to annoy me. Even the credits at the end of a film/tv series are squashed up so that the screen can be dominated by a preview of something dreadful that they have lined up. ITV - R.I.P
You don't need people to play repeat programmes, just train a load of MONKEE's to press the replay button.
selling quay street will only be a short term fix! once they've moved to media city they're only tennants! they will not have a valuable asset in property like quay st.
theres only harry hills tv burp thats any good! and thats made up of taking the micky out of recycled bits of tv!
I have not been a fan of ITV since it become far too overtly commercial - I can unerstand why in this multi-channel age but it kinda makes you feel as if the whole channel has been dumbed down - the only thing I watch on ITV is Corrie and Poirot - and even Corrie has gone downhill since they started showing 57 episodes a week - ITV really needs to make itself a more unique viewing platform than all the other thousands of other crass commercial channels on TV - raise the bar ITV for your own sake or die. Oh and while you are at it get rid of Ant and Dec - entertainment?? Doubtful.